The Roman waystation of Rubricaire in eastern Gaul, the first core of a series of successive settlements that came into being at the foot of ,Les agglomérations de la province de Lyonnaise Troisième (Bretagne et Pays de la Loire): entre abandon, perduration et nouvelles créations (iiie-vie s. apr. J.-C.) (The towns of the province of Lugdunensis Tertia (Bretagne and Pays de la Loire): between abandonment, perduration and new foundations (3rd-6th c. AD)) Martial Monteil p. 15-37 https://doi.org/10.4000/gallia.2329 is better known through its ruins than through historical texts. Also known as the , it was the seat of Sainte-Gemmes-le-Robert, in the canton of Évron in (Mayenne), 11 kilometers as the bird flies from, and within sight of, the Jublains archeological site in Mayenne, chief settlement of the Aulerci Diablintes.
Rubricaire has elements of Roman origin: the road, scattered habitations and baths. It is known through a 2nd-century map, recopied in the 11th century.
The Gallo-Roman camp and the balneum of Rubricaire were declared in 1917.
Identification
Abbot Alphonse-Victor Angot identified the Rubricaire station on the road from Jublains to Le Mans, as Robrica station on the road from Angers to Le Mans on the Tabula Peutingeriana, first drawn up in the 2nd century, and whose remaining copy dates from the 11th century.
Abbé Angot affirmed:
A displacement of only a centimeter on the Tabula Peutingeriana would move the Robrica label from the road to Angers to the one to Jublains; A station has never been found on the road from Angers to Le Mans whose name and distances match the map; because Rubricaire, in the entrenched camp that can still be seen there, even by its name, corresponded at least to two of the elements of the problem and justified the identification that Abbot Angot proposed.
An error by one of the copyists who successively transcribed the text of the map, and who as a group have made errors without number, is plausible, since it would merely consist of displacing a name from one line to the next, parallel and only a centimeter away.
Roman era (1st-5th centuries)
Camp Antoine Margerie, pastor of Sainte-Gemme-le-Robert from 1755 to 1776, mentioned the name of Rubricaire in his Mémoire about his parish, addressed around 1770 to canon , author of the Dictionnaire historique du Maine (Historical dictionary of Maine).
A. Grenier, one of the first to take an archaeological rather than economic or historical approach to the network of Roman roads and relay stations, in his 1934 Manuel de l'archéologie gallo-romaine (Manual of Gallo-Roman Archaeology) described Rubricaire and Jublains as military and fiscal in nature.
Oral tradition had preserved only the name of Rubricaire, but slightly altered, pronounced Rubicaire, whereas the spelling in the priest's Mémoire was "Rubricaire", as M. Gérault also wrote it in his Notice sur Évron (Notice on Évron).Notice historique sur Évron, son abbaye et ses monuments, par l'abbé Gérault, (curé d'Évron). This document is available in text mode Author : Gérault (curé d'Évron) Publisher : Sauvage-Hardy (Laval) Publication date : 1838 Relationship : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30498855b Type : text Type : printed monograph Language : French Format : In-8°, IV-92 p. Description : Collection numérique : Fonds régional : Pays de la Loire Description : with text mode Rights : Public domain Identifier : ark:/12148/bpt6k65265758 Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme, 8-LK7-2712 Provenance : Bibliothèque nationale de France Online date : 19/06/2013 TEXT MODE (OCR)
Familiar with the research at Jublains by his pastoral colleagues Pierre Tessier and Lair de la Motte, Margerie well understood the Roman origin of Rubricaire, its relationship to Jublains and its strategic importance. The name Château Rubricaire that he gave it indicates the relatively well-preserved condition of the building, where not only the enclosure of strong walls but also the layout of the housing, could still be distinguished.
Excavations In 1834, when the road from Évron to Bais was built, quite a few traces of this building remained, since part of it was demolished for the first layer.Serbat Louis. Balneum de Rubricaire. In: Bulletin Monumental, volume 70, année 1906. pp. 161-163. Via Persée.
In 1853, the awarded 200 francs to continue the excavations there. But at that time the question of the had re-arisen, whose capital had since Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville been considered to have been at La Cité near Saulges, so the funds were re-allocated there.Visite faite au Chateau Rubricaire, Bulletin monumental, Volume 22. Société française d'archéologie, 1854. p.379. Via Lyon Public Library (Bibliothèque jésuite des Fontaines) In 1859, new excavations showed that traces of walls remained.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there remained only two parallel walls to the north, where the principal housing was found, the spur of a buttress in the southwest corner, and around the entire perimeter, instead of walls, a levée of earth and stones enclosing an open space at its center of a dozen . The enclosure was acquired on 20 September 1887 through an edict of the Mayenne archaeological commission, which gifted it to the département. It is these earthworks and the space they enclose that are named Rubricaire or, as Margerie wrote, the Château Rubricaire, with neither glebe nor dependency from any fief. Two villages, Les Buttes and Les Jolivières, were established around it. The excavations carried out by Alphonse-Victor Angot in 1903 made it clear that what traditionally had been considered a prison was in fact a .Balneum de Rubricaire, Serbat Louis. In: Bulletin Monumental, volume 69, 1905. p. 158 via Persée
Roman road Rubricaire is a short distance from the road from Jublains to Le Mans, which in crossing the commune of Sainte-Gemme is constantly in view of and seemingly under the watch and protection of the garrison of the fort. Since extrapolating in a straight line would very precisely reach Jublains, there are grounds to believe that this line does not deviate from the path of the road, and runs along the Maisonneuve pond road. The path of the road can still be recognized in a long ungraded road that completely crosses the Vivois stream; in the scattered granite and crumbled sandstone found all along the way; in roads that are often cut off but are easily connected to one another and to other traces. The entirety is a perfectly straight line.
The road was 8 to 9 feet wide and was paved with large blocks of stone solidly assembled on beaten earth and covered with a thick layer of granite, polished sandstone and crushed pebbles.
Rural homes Agricultural and artisanal establishments appeared along the road at points that were advantageous for communications with Rubricaire and close to water sources. The traces of several have been located, where can still be seen brick edging and large imported granite stones. Abbot Angot documented the villas that he was able to find.
Baths and balneum of Rubricaire
Rubricaire station disposed for the use of the garrison of a bath establishment with the usual services: cold baths, sauna and hot baths. It was not until around 1890 that they were found and excavated. Their burial preserved them in a condition that allows an examination of all the details of their design, and in some parts the freshness of their plaster and the layout of the conduits for heat and water. It was not until February 1903 that the Abbot Angot undertook his excavations, with the concurrence of the historic commission of Mayenne and the permission of M. Chapelière, the owner of the land.
These baths are outside the enclosure. The whole of the construction has its two longest sides turned to the southwest and the northeast with the corners thus corresponding more or less to the four points of the compass. It includes a rectangular building of 12.50 m by 6.50 m, to which is attached at the western corner an annex, also rectangular, of 4.50 m by 2 m, ending in an apse towards the southwest.Les thermes d'Entrammes (Mayenne), Jacques Naveau. Revue Archéologique de l'Ouest, 1992 p. 159
The principal building, also rectangular, included at its northwest edge a section of 4.50 m, attributed, beginning in the northeast, to a ground-level service room, an elevated vestibule over a hypocaust furnace, then to a sauna, also over a hypocaust, in an apse that emerges from the southwest side. One reached the vestibule through a door to the northwest.
The water came from a place 200 meters from Rubricaire, known today as le Châtelier, where the source wells up in ten places and, captured there rather than allowed to follow the natural slope of the terrain, was able to feed the camp as well as its baths.
Merovingian and Carolingian era
Garrison of Rubricaire Rubricaire was designed as a fortified camp with a garrison to protect the road and the local settlement. It disappeared along with the Diablintes capital of Jublains towards the end of the third century. A hundred years later, before the end of the 6th century, it was replaced by the villa Rupiacus, Rochard, a vast domain which stretched from ancient Rubricaire to the limits of the territory of Évron (or Aurion), and was assigned along with Jublains to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Le Mans.
Possession of the archdiocese of Le Mans By the 6th century at the latest, the parish of Aurion was already established. In 643, Saint Hadoin, bishop of Le Mans, also built an abbey there, with the concurrence of the abbot of Diergé, endowing it with the domains of Jeune, Lémaré, Poilé, Baugé, Diergé near the town and near the church, Assé, Houélé, Châtres, Commer, Aché, and Froidfont.
The author of , who wrote in the 9th century, was still describing this state of things: possession of Rupiacus by the Bishop of Le Mans, and his jurisdiction over Évron and all of its territory. At the risk of contradicting himself, he added that Rupiacus was given to Saint Hadlin along with twelve good domains by a certain Alain, although elsewhere he attributed its founding to local inhabitants on behalf of in the 3rd century.
Another chronicler also spoke of the villa Rupiacus. He related that Saint Maurus came to Maine to found a Benedictine monastery at the Saint Innocent priory, but did not arrive until after the death of the sainted bishop around 559, and therefore had to go instead to the Duchy of Anjou to set up a different establishment there. His monks consoled themselves by saying that the Rupiacus location in Maine that had been intended for them could only, based on its name, have been a desolate and rocky location.
The author of , speaking of events closer to his time, reported that in 771, 796 and 802 Charlemagne had the villa Rupiacus returned to Le Mans and to its chapter, then confirmed their possession of it, which a corrupt prelate had appropriated. According to the Actes authentiques (Authentic Acts) of Aldric of Le Mans, bishop from 832 to 857, he gave himself the task of enhancing his domain of Rupiacus, Rochard. Louis the Pious confirmed his possession of it and the parish of Sainte-Gemme was soon founded there.